Introduction
Community policing is a technique used by police for capacity building. This capacity building is aimed at securing the citizens from the criminals within. Therefore, the citizens have a responsibility of co-operating with the law enforcement authority in order to uphold societal norms and guard against criminals within. Community policing strategy is used to across the globe to set the society free from criminals.
Community policing consists of a set of advantages. First, security of the citizens is upheld. Through community policing, the security of the citizens is at a very lower risk (Henry et al, 2012). This is because, the co-ordination of the police and the public works to root out the entire criminal minds in the society. The second advantage is that; the police get to understand the needs of the individuals residing around and within the community. The third advantage is that; the police officers together with the general public can always meet and discuss ways on how to solve some social problems within the society. This involves one on one meeting with the community stakeholders and getting to understand their social problems.
There are a few disadvantages associated with community policing. One of the main disadvantages is the lack of cooperation by the community stakeholders due to the fear of their welfare (Sozer et al, 2013). Some of the communities don’t believe that police can always work with the public to solve some of the social problems. To this extent, they normally withhold crucial information that might help the police in developing a proactive approach in solving the community problem.
Conclusion
Community policing helps the communities to design and come up with strategies that can impact positively on social development of the society.
References;
Henry, A., & Mackenzie, S. (2012). Brokering Communities of Practice: a Model of Knowledge Exchange and Academic-practitioner Collaboration Developed in the Context of Community Policing. Police Practice & Research, 13(4), 315-328.
Sozer, M., & Merlo, A. V. (2013). The Impact of Community Policing on Crime Rates: does the Effect of Community Policing Differ in Large and Small Law Enforcement Agencies? Police Practice & Research, 14(6), 506-521.
